How does Google Books work?

Finding books with Google Books is as easy as finding websites with Google Web Search; just enter the keyword or phrase that you're looking for into the Google Books box. For example, when you search for [rock climbing] or for a phrase like [one small step for man], we'll find all the books whose contents match your search terms.

Click a book title and you'll see basic info about the book, just as you'd see in a card catalogue. You might also see a few snippets – sentences of your search term in context. If a publisher or author has given us permission, you'll see a full page and be able to browse within the book to see more pages. If the book is out of copyright, you'll see a full page and you can page forwards or back to see the full book. Click the magnifying glass icon next to the title to search within the text of the book that you've selected.

You can click the Get book or Get print book button for a list of links to online book stores where you can buy the book. In many cases, you can also click Find in a Library to find a local library where you can borrow it.

If the book is available as a Google eBook, you'll see an option to purchase the digital edition.